14 GOINGS ON ABOUT TOWN mosaic that never COUles together. vValdo Setlt attempted the next-to-impossible job of adapt- ing the novel-an aesthete's view of society, set in Los Angeles in the thirties, in which the culturally debased people bring on the apocalypse. There wouldn't be ll1uch to re- ll1ember from the movie if it w.eren't for èl few of the performers-Burgess 1\1:eredith as an old vaudevillian, Billy Barty as a 11lacho dwarf, and vVilliam Atherton in the thankless role of the artist Tod (S/12/75) (Cinetl1a L) THE DECAMERON (1971)-Based on Boccaccio's tales, directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini, with Franco Citti Ninetto Davoli, and Pasolini. In Italian (Elgin; June 12.) DIABOLIQUE (19ss)-Henri-Georges Clouzot's grisly horror thriller set In a provincial school. The headmaster (Paul Meurisse), his '" ife (Vera Clouzot), and his mistress (Si- 11lone Signoret) work together and at cross- purposes to reduce their number by a third. Scary, but so calculatedly sensational that it's rather revolting. In French. (Quad Cinema; through June 14.) THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE (197 2 )- Luis Buñuel's most frivolously witty movie, directed with exhilarating ease. He is no longer sa"age about the hypocrisy and inanity of the privileged classes; he has grown al- most fond of their follies-the v,:ay one can grow fond of the snarls and the silliness of vicious pets. The discreetly charming amoral beasts gathered here include Stephane Au- dran, Julien Bertheau (as the bishop), Fer- nando Rey, Delphine Seyrig, and Jean-Pierre Cassel In French. (D. VV. Griffith; June 11.) EARTHQUAKE-L.A. gets it. The picture is swill, but it isn't a cheat. like" t\irport 1975," \vhich is cut-rate swill. This one is an entertaining marathon of Grade-A destruction effects, with B-picture stock characters spinning through it. Among them are A va Gardner. the grimly resolute Charlton Heston, and Geneviève Bujold, whose witty style gives the picture its only touch of class 1\1:ark Rob- son directed. (12/2/74) (New Embassy.) THE EIGER SANCTION- -\ suspense film. directed by, and with, Clint Eastwood. (34th St. East, and Beekman.) THE FALL (1961)-The films of the Argentine director Leopoldo Torre )J ilsson are very distinctive-atmospheric and sensitive, yet fragile, self-conscious, and not quite satisfy- ing; they al ,va vs promise more than they de- liver. In this one, Elsa Daniel is a lonely )oung university student who takes a room with a fatherless family. The sickly, neurotic mother seems frightened of her callous, dreamy children; the family hero is an uncle, to \vhom the student is attracted. Banality sets in just Vv hen you hope for excitement. From a novel by the director's \"ife, Beatriz Guido In Spanish. (Bleecker St. Cinema; June II.) FANTASTIC VOYAGE (1966)-.t\ sci-fi film about a long and dangerous voyage through the hu- man body vVith Stephen Boyd and Raquel \Velch. (Guild.) lE FANTôME DE LA LIBERTÉ-The theme of Buñuel's latest turns out to be freedom in the sense of "chance": the picture is a random senes of anecdotes and paradoxes, and they miss as often as they connect Buñuel has a great tonic style, but this is a piffle. The actors come on in relay,,; the cast Includes )'10nica Vitti. Jean-Claude Brialy, and .t\driana Asti. In French. (10/28/74) (Carnegie Hall Cine- ma; June 13.) FIVE ON THE BLACK HAND SIDE (1973)-vVith Clarice Taylor and Leonard Jackson, direct- ed by Oscar vVilliams. (Elgin ; June 18.) THE FORTuNE-Charn11ess slapstick farce, set in the twenties. vVarren Beatty and Jack N ich- obon are the mercenary clowns who fumble in their attempts to kill an heiress (Stockard S-M-T-w-r- , 16117111 F-S IJ 114 15 12- 19 Channing) for her money. Mike Nichols di- rected, from .t\drien Joyce's screenplay The tone is too playful too bright-you can see where you're meant to laugh, but you don't feel like it. Some vital element seems to be missing-affection, maybe Jack Nicholson has some high comic moments, but the film isn't likable. (Coronet.) FRENCH CONNECTION II-Directed by John Frank- enheimer (the first part was \i\Tilliam Fried- kin's), with Gene Hackn1an cast again dS Popeye Doyle, the foul-mouthed killer cop of New York who is now in Marseilles, deter- mined to break the French heroin connection for good; the connection is once more played by the suave Fernando Rey. Doyle is taken by the film to be a ophisticated plain speaker, but his sophistication is really a cast of mega- lopolitan rudeness. Photographed b) Claude Renoir, nephew of Jean Renoir (for whom he photographed "Grand Illusion"); the com- positions are individually very fine, but there are too many slam-bang closeups that make you pine for a long shot to let you find your bearings. Visually as morally the film makes you uncertain where its feet are. (6/2/75) (Murray Hill, and Trans-Lux East.) FUNNY LADy-The moviemakers weren't just go- ing to make a sequel to "Funny Girl"-they "ere going to kill us. (And thev wanted to outdo "Cabaret," besides.) .As Fanny Brice, Barbra Streisand is no longer human; she's like a bitchy fen1ale impersonator imitating Barbra Streisand She's in beautiful voice, but her singing is too terrific-strident over- dralnatization that turns a song into a big ntllnber. The picture is overproduced and badly edited, with d forties-movie-heartbreak plot. A great deal of talent has been badly used, though James Caan has some good scenes as scrubby, anxious Billy Rose, and Streisand is charming in the wittily staged "I Found a Million Dollar Baby in a Fi"e and Ten Cent Store" Ray Stark produced; Herbert Ross directed. The new songs are by Kander and Ebb. (3/17/75) (Loews Tower Eas t.) THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW (19 66 )- Pasolini's interpretation features a rigid Jesus \",ho demands obedience as well as the rocky settings of southern Italy and an eclec- tic score. Some find the slow rhythm of the film fascinating, others think it punishing. In Italian. (Elgin; June 12.) THE HAPPY HOOKER-With Lynn Redgrave as Xaviera Hollander. Directed by Nick Sgarro. (Embassy 72nd St.; through June I 7.) HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971)-The love story of Harold (Bud Cort).. almost twenty, and Maude (Ruth Gordon), almost eighty. Di- rected by Hal Ashby. (Quad Cinema; through June 17. . . . (jJ D. W. Griffith; June 18.) HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR (1959)-A tortured love affair between a French actress and a Japanese architect in the city that was devas- tated by the first atomic bomb Alain Res- nais' contro, ersial début as a feature-film director; there is no controversy, however, about Emmanuèle Riva's splendid perform- ance. In French (Elgin; June 17.) HORSEFEATHERS (1932)-The Marx Brothers in one of their best comedies. The setting is academic, and Thelma Todd is the college widow to whom Groucho sings "Everyone Says 'I Love You.' " (Carnegie Hall Cinell1a; June 14.) -w . IF . . . (1969)-Lindsay Anderson use an Eng- lish school for boys as a metaphor for a rot- ting traditional society. An attempted epic on student revolt, with too many nluddy un- dercurrents With Malcolm 11cDowell. (D. \i\T. Griffith: June 16.) INVESTIGATION OF A CITIZEN ABOVE SUSPICION (197 0 )-.-\ political parable, directed b) Elio Petri, about a mad big-shot police official (Gian Maria V olonte) who believes he has a license to kill, but the movie is too nasty and kinky for the political point to be effective Petri doesn't use suspense pleasurably; he makes one apprehen ive and doesn't resolve the tensions, so the film leaves one in a foul mood. In Itálian. (Elgin; June 19.) THE I NVITATION-\ summery haze hangs over this wonderfully sill1ple and tender film by the Swiss filmmaker Claude Goretta. This tale, which won a Special Jury Prize at Cannes in 1973 is about a middle-aged, shy office work- er, delicately played by Michel Robin. He lives with his mother until she die'). .t\fter taking Ì\\10 n10nths off from his job, he in- vites every n1ember of the staff of his small office to a day-long party. They had expected to find their host living as humbly as before; they find hin1 on an estate, attended b) an ex- quisitely played hireling butler (François Simon). In French. (5/5/75) (Regency.) JOE (1970 )-.t\ hardhat type, mouthing preju- dices about the young and the blacks and the freeloaders on welfare, meets a well-heeled liberal adman, and they strike up a murder- ous alliance. Peter Bo) Ie pIa), s the bigot; John Avildsen directed. (D. VV Griffith; June 12.) THE LADY VANISHES (1938)-Alfred Hitchcock' murder mystery about a charming old Iddy \\ ho boards a train and disappear on it has SOlne of the best examples of his comedy and his pleasurable pen ersity. In movie history, it is a quintessential suspense thriller. The hero is 1Tichael Redgrave (making his filnl debut); the heroine is Margaret Lock\\ ood; the ladv is the memorable Dame lYIav vVhitty. \Vith Paul Lukas and Cecil Parker. (Quad Cinema; through June 14.) LANCELOT OF THE LAKE-Robert Bresson's da7- zlingly severe and beautiful version of the legend of Lancelot, King .t\rthur, Guine\ere, and .t\rthur's slinlY enemy, Mordred. Xo one but Bresson could use the constriction on commonplace expressiveness that wearing armor nleans; his great art has always thrived on constraints that he in1poses on himself, and this film is d tnasterpiece of eloquent dis- cipline. vVe're seeing the knights after the early enthusiasn1 over the quest for the Grail has been dampened. The chevaliers quar:çel, the Round Table is ringed with chairs that belong to the now dead, and the fihn end in a pile of annor in \\ hich one renlaining fig- ure faintly stirs. we are seeing the fading of chi\,alry in what amounts to a heap of scrap metal that is the detritus of a shrivelled code, and Bresson's austere art entirely coun- teracts any feeling of bleakness. A film to see and see again; never ha\ e economies of composition, of editing, of expository "ex- citing" climax, of bridging dialogue been 1110re beautifully planned, or ended in such a sense of the copious. In French. (6/9/75) (Art.) THE LANDLORD (1970)- '\bout Ylanhattan real es- tate and racism. A rich \\ hite (Beau Bridges), ridden by a wildly overdrawn boozing mother (I ee Grant), buys a tenement to learn ",hat it's like to be poor. vVith Peèlrl Bailey. Di- rected by Hal ,Ashby. (D. VV. Griffith; June 18.) THE LAST MOVIE (1971 )-Dennis Hopper direct- ed this put-on knockabout traged), in which he stars as a stunt n1an with an Alnerican film company in Peru who becon1es a Christ figure when the natÍ\, es imitate fihnn1aking. The movie grinds to a pain ful halt right at the start; it is visually beautiful, but the editing is so self-destructive that it's as if Hopper had slashed his own canvases. (Elgin; June I I.) LENNy-The earnest Bob Fosse film starring Dustin Hoffman is for audiences \\ ho want to belie\le that Lenny Bruce was a saint!) gadfly who was martyred for having lived be- fore their tÏtne. Hoffman makes a serious, honorable try, but he's the wrong h.ind of actor to play Bruce. Hofflnan is a nice boy; Bruce was uncompromisingly not nice. Val- erie Perrine is touching as Honey, and Gary !vIorton has a fine bit as the type of con1Íc